More dog owners obey license rule

CASEY MCNERTHNE, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

By CASEY MCNERTHNEY, P-I REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Thursday, May 17, 2007

During a May 6 visit to the Golden Gardens off-leash area, Jennifer Tam gets a ticket for not having her dog Sylo licensed in the city of Seattle. Sylo was licensed in Oregon, and Tam said she didn't know there was a time limit on licensing the animal in a new place. She said she felt like she should have gotten a warning.
Photo: Meryl Schenker/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

During a May 6 visit to the Golden Gardens off-leash area, Jennifer...

Laura Ellis of Edmonds gets a ticket from Neil Deruyter, a Seattle animal control officer, after leaving the Golden Garden's off-leash area without her dog on a leash.
Photo: Meryl Schenker/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Though Seattle Animal Shelter's zero-tolerance policy for unlicensed animals has infuriated some pet owners, it's led to a record number of dogs licensed in the first four months of this year.

At least 10,276 dogs were licensed January through April, an increase of 2,200 over the same period last year.

A $250,000 budget increase this year allowed the shelter to beef up enforcement, but also open daily, leading to adoptions or redemptions of 113 additional animals compared with the first four months of last year.

But the shelter, which dishes out $125 municipal court fines for unlicensed dogs, cats and pigs, hasn't convinced the bulk of Seattle cat owners to take action -- especially indoor cat owners who insist their felines won't get out.

Between January and April 2006, the shelter licensed 5,780 cats and ticketed eight cat owners. Under the zero-tolerance policy, the 2007 number licensed increased by 11. Five owners had been ticketed.

"Really, the only way to get those numbers to increase is through public education," Seattle Animal Shelter Enforcement Supervisor Ann Graves said.

"And it's very hard to get people to understand the importance of getting their cats licensed."

Shelter employees have contacted managers at 50 Seattle apartment complexes in the past two months to emphasize the importance of licensing pets, Executive Director Don Jordan said. The shelter also has made site visits to Seattle Housing Authority complexes, where most residents can get a discount on the licenses, which range from $15 to $120 a year.

"I tell people who don't think it's important to come down to the shelter and see all the indoor cats that have escaped," Jordan said, adding that licensed cats aren't required to wear collars. "There are so many things that can lead to a cat getting out. And only 2 to 3 percent of cats that come to the shelters return to their owners."

Betsy Paige, who takes feral cats into her Seward Park home, was fined $125 after one she owned lost his collar and a neighbor took him to a veterinarian.

"I can't afford to get each of them licensed," she said. "And why should I pay when he was chipped? It's not like he was causing trouble, and I already did my part by getting him fixed."

Jordan estimates there are 125,000 dogs and 250,000 cats in Seattle, with about 88,000 licensed total. The discrepancy is partially because of owners incorrectly assuming that microchips surgically implanted between a pet's shoulders are enough protection, he said. Enforcement officers report that the chips often have outdated information.

The shelter's 12 animal control officers patrol Seattle parks about 30 hours a week and expect to reach 120 hours by December with three additional officers. Graves said that contrary to popular belief, they aren't patrolling neighborhoods trying to trap off-leash animals for profit.

"Our first concern are animal cruelty calls, followed by calls for dangerous or injured animals," Graves said, adding that licensing isn't overlooked.

In the first four months of 2007, the shelter issued 441 tickets for unlicensed animals -- up from 333 during the same 2006 period. But the money generated is a small fraction of the shelter's $3.26 million budget.

Animal control officer Brett Rogers said that initially, some of his co-workers didn't like the zero-tolerance policy because of the verbal attacks they get from outraged pet owners.

"But the number of licensed animals has increased, which is a benefit for pets and their owners," he said. "Once we get a full staff, we'll really be able to see what we can do."